Is a couple two exactly or several in this case?

Question

I really want to get to the bottom of this, please let me know your opinion.
Somenone asked me a question about my neighbor down the street. I asked them "what neighbor"? They pointed down the street and said "the neighbor a couple of houses down"? I replied by asking "what neighbor"? They said "a couple, you know two"? They asked me "what you don't know what a couple is"? I think a couple of houses down can be 2,3,4,5 houses down.

Answer 1

My wife is French Canadian. Like you, she understands a couple as meaning several. I am Anglo Canadian. To me, a couple is exactly two. It took me years to get used to her saying a couple when she meant several! LOL

Answer 2

The meaning(s) of a word depend on what everyone agrees it is. In Shakespeare's time, "deer" meant "animal," not the specific ones like Bambi.

I agree, a "couple" is always two. But as Mr. Ed pointed out, in another culture, it can mean a few.

And even in my Calirfornia culture, it can be a vague quantity, depending on the context. "I watched a couple of TV shows while I ate a couple of potato chips, then I talked to my brother for, oh, a couple of minutes." In all of these instances, I could easily have substituted "several" but sometimes the rhythm of the speech lends itself more easily to "couple of" or more colloquially, "coupla."

And to add confusion to the mess, in the specific example you cite, it's never quite clear if you start counting from the house you're at, or from the closest neighbor.

Grammar and culture clash again, no?

Answer 3

A couple is 2. A few is 3 or more.

Answer 4

Generally a couple is two, but in this case I would say it could be anything. If they wanted to be exact they would have said 2 houses down.

Answer 5

A couple (according to dictionary.com) is:
–noun
1. two of the same sort considered together; pair.

So technically, a couple is two things. I think the term "few" would make more sense for 3 or more objects.

Not trying to sound rude, just being exact.

Answer 6

A couple is 2. Anything more would be a few.

Answer 7

Sigh. A couple is two, not three, not four, not anything else. You might want to check a dictionary to avoid asking such an embarassing question. "Few" could mean three or four or whatever but a couple of anything is a pair.

Answer 8

a couple is always 2

Answer 9

I would have asked the same thing...or maybe said "two houses?"

It technically means two, but you are not the only one who uses it to mean more then two.

Answer 10

a couple is exactly 2